If You Come Softly by Jacqueline Woodson
CW: Death, Child Death, Police Shooting, Gun Violence, Racism, Discussion of Cheating, Discussion of Divorce, Trauma from Child Abandonment, Discussion of Child Abandonment, Tension Between Parents and Children, Discussion of Homophobia, Anxiety, Grief
4.5/5
This is the sort of book that schools should be including in their English curricula. I would assign it to Middle or High School students. Somehow this book that should be considered a classic has gone under the radar. If You Come Softly by Jacqueline Woodson was published in 1998, but it is still very relevant today. It discusses race, religion, divorce, interracial relationships, difficult family relationships, and more. The book is poetic, approachable, and serious. I'm unsure how I've managed to go over 20 years without previously discovering it.
Based in Manhattan and Brooklyn, New York, this novella is about Ellie and 'Miah, two teens that are inexplicably drawn to each other. After a meet-cute in the halls of their prep-school, neither one can stop thinking of the other. At first they worry if they should be together because he's black and she's Jewish, but as months go by, they change each other's worlds forever.
Woodson is a black queer woman, a poetess, a mother, and a writer with many works under her belt. She is not Jewish, however. While I loved the choice for Ellie to be Jewish, her representation felt surface-level. She has a Star of David necklace, her hair is the stereotypical dark curls of white Jewish people, and holidays like Yom Kippur are mentioned, but I didn't get a good grasp on Ellie's relationship to her Judaism. Woodson did not negatively portray the religion nor did she include anything harmful, but I do wish she had done more with it.
The book is told in chapters that alternate between Ellie's and 'Miah's points of view. This is one of the things that makes the book into the should-be-classic that it is. Both kids have gone through a lot in their lives and are very rich (literally and figuratively) characters. 'Miah is the son of two successful artists, he's traveled the world, he's also witnessed his parents getting divorced, and he suffered from the death of his grandmother. Ellie comes from a large family and lives near Central Park, but she's been abandoned by her mother more than once and she rarely sees the rest of her family. Together 'Miah and Ellie face racism and what it can do to the love they share.
Anyone can likely guess the ending within the first few pages of the book, but I'm not going to spoil it, just in case. As I said before, this book is still very relevant today. There's light and dark to it. The reader will likely find themself pulled into the love story of 'Miah and Ellie and then wishing desperately for more time with the two of them. Despite my usual aversion to meet-cutes for not being realistic, this story feels very real and raw throughout. It doesn't shy away from trauma, the realities of racism and white privilege, or complicated family dynamics.
If you have never read or heard of If You Come Softly, please put it on your list. It's short, powerful, and beautifully written. If you audiobook it, you may get a Forward by Woodson too. Have your tissues ready and give this a go. The only thing you'll regret is how little we've moved forward in society.
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